


The Forbidden Game: The Hunt

by LoveHonorCookie



Category: Hannibal (TV), The Forbidden Game - L. J. Smith
Genre: M/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:06:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveHonorCookie/pseuds/LoveHonorCookie
Summary: Forbidden Game AU, Hannigram Style:Sweet, empathetic teen Will Graham has really goofed this time. It’s his girlfriend’s (Alana) birthday today, and he PROMISED he would throw her a party. Fun. Surprising. Sexy. Grown up.He doesn’t quite know how he found himself in the strange game shop. And he doesn’t know quite how he feels about the boy tending the shop- slightly older, firm, strong, all angles and flashing teeth.“Something fun,” the boy says in a strange accent. “Surprising. Sexy.” His voice drops. “Scary.”“Dangerous.”Will takes the game.He doesn’t know what’s about to happen.How could he?





	The Forbidden Game: The Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> I have finals, and apparently when I am stressed I write Hannigram cause they are the ship I will sink on. The Forbidden Game Trilogy is a YA series by L.J. Smith and is WILDLY underappreciated. I highly recommend you pick a copy up!
> 
> Please enjoy the fruits of my stress relief.

Will Graham didn’t need to look behind him to know that the other, older boy was still behind him. Looming and muscled in a way that Will wasn’t, a scowl painted on a face that may have been handsome except for a prominent cleft in his lips, the boy had been following Will (he was pretty sure) for several blocks. His old, weathered white t-shirt was a size too small, like no one was checking to see if he’d grown out of it, and the jacket he wore looked too new, too clean to belong to the boy. Stolen.

 

Will walked quicker, going over in his head the address he’d found online. He was close. He could get to the store, duck inside, find what he needed and wait the boy out. This really wasn’t a good neighborhood- but of course, that was part of the point. He couldn’t go anywhere where any of his friends might see him. Because then they’d know how badly he’d messed up.

 

And Will had really goofed this time. It was his girlfriend, Alana’s, birthday today, and he had _promised_ he would throw her a party. Fun. Surprising. Sexy. Grown up. Alana was turning 18, and she deserved something special. He’d really meant to plan something great for her.

 

But it had been one of ‘those’ months. Bev had a karate final, and of course Will had practiced with her and gone to cheer her on. Frederick and Freddie had had a fight and he needed to mediate that, Price had to put one of his cats down, and then his cousin, Zeller, had gotten the flu…

 

Everyone always said that Will took on too much, that it was part of his ‘empathy disorder’, but he couldn’t stop himself from always wanting to help everyone.

 

However, now it was Friday afternoon, and everyone was going to be at his house in a few hours, expecting something amazing, and all he’d have is a bowl of tortilla chips and some whiskey he’d snatched from his father.

 

Will had been starting to panic, when the idea hit him out of nowhere- of course! A game night.

 

People did game nights all the time. Board games were even cool now, actually. He’d just need to find the right game. Something exciting, to hold Beverly’s attention, something complicated enough to engage Brian, something sexy to get Frederick and Freddie into it. Maybe even something a little scary, to interest Zeller. Something a whole group of people could play.

 

Will had done some internet surfing, to see what was out there, when a site popped up as if targeted to him specifically.

 

“More Games”, said the link, showing an address nearby. Will had clicked through, images of runes and ruins, stars and scrolls had populated the screen of his phone. The site didn’t seem like a normal site… it almost felt like he could reach out and _touch_ the things on the screen. Felt like he _wanted_ to.

 

So he’d noted the address, and took off directly after school, navigating his way by memory even though he rarely went to this part of town. Will had an excellent memory, always had.

 

Which meant he’d known at first sight that he definitely didn’t know the boy behind him. As he sped up, he heard the footsteps behind him pick up speed as well. Will had been hoping he was just being paranoid, but the change in pace confirmed it. The boy was following him.

 

Will started to walk even faster, but the footsteps behind him only increased as well. Faster than his own, now. The boy would catch up shortly at this rate.

 

Will began to panic. The store should be just up the street and around the corner. He just had to make it till then-

 

The boy was coming even faster. Will could hear his breathing now.

 

On instinct, Will broke out into a full run. The boy behind him did as well, but he didn’t know how fast Will was. Will was slimmer, and sleeker than the boy- he knew he could make it. And he did.

 

Except when he turned the corner- all he saw was a mural. A mural of runes and ruins, stars and scrolls, and the words, “More Games” written above a very realistic-looking doorway.

 

Will cursed. What kind of jerk _did_ something like this? Faked a store by painting on a wall, made a website? He pounded his fist against the wall, then turned around to brace himself, prepared to face the other boy… when his hand brushed something. Will looked down.

 

It was a doorknob.

 

Will looked back up. The door seemed a mural no longer- it was very, very, very real, and the footsteps of the boy were so close now.

 

Will swallowed, then not even thinking- opened the door.

 

***

 

Without wondering whether it was smart or not, Will turned the lock on the door behind him, making sure the boy couldn’t follow him in. He panted, trying to get control over his breath, when he realized the inside of the store was even stranger than the outside.

 

Strange, and exotic. It was as though he’d stepped into another time- or another planet. Items from what looked like all over the world, all over the universe, were strewn about the room, both haphazard and artistic. Some were recognizably games, some were… unknown to him. Boards, playing pieces, runes and dice, some positively ancient looking and some looking to be from some advanced alien species all surrounded him, the colors so varied and the textures so unique that Will, again, felt the yearning to _touch_ . From an old-fashioned phonograoh, the kind Will had only ever seen in movies, classical music played- something familiar, something like Bach, Will thought, but _not_ Bach. And then, just overhead, a sign, spaced out to be difficult to read, but Will saw the message immediately:

 

W E L C

O M E T

O M Y W

O R L D

 

 _‘Welcome to my world?’_ Will thought, puzzling over the unusual and oddly appealing atmosphere, which did feel otherworldly, when he heard softly to the side of him, in a beautiful, low, accented voice: “May I help you?”

 

Will turned to look at the owner of the voice- and momentarily lost his breath.

 

The owner of the voice was the most beautiful boy- person, _being_ that Will had ever laid eyes on.

 

He was about Will’s age- a little older, a little taller, a little more muscular- and his face was all angles. The slope of his nose and his cheekbones was elegant, noble, patrician, and his eyes were such a warm brown they were nearly _red_ . His lips were full, and pursed at him curiously. He was… sleek, chic. He was dressed so fashionably, so expensively, something about him seemed royal, but also dangerous. Will felt as though he knew him from somewhere, from the area in his mind that knew there was something out there in the darkness. He leant against the counter behind him gracefully, looking at Will with something... something Will couldn’t even _name_ behind those red eyes.

 

“May I help you?” The boy asked again, and then his face was polite, indifferent. Will blushed as he realized he’d been staring, then blanched as he remembered Alana. Alana, his sweet, beautiful, brilliant girlfriend, the reason he was here, who deserved better than a boyfriend who procrastinated planning her party, then ogled the store clerk when he tried salvage things. Even if the store clerk in question looked like that.

 

“I’d like to buy a game. For my _girlfriend_ ,” Will said, then cringed, because he’d been loud, too loud. The boy smirked knowingly at him, then pushed himself up from the counter and came towards Will.

 

“Very well.” The boy gestured gracefully about the store, expansively, as though he owned the place, which was ridiculous, since he couldn’t have been more than 19. “Perhaps Senet, the Egyptian Game of the Dead?” he offered, hands indicated a beautiful enamel case, covered with hieroglyphics and almost gleaming. “Could I interest you in the I-ching? Or did you come to cast the runes?” His voice was hypnotic, his eyes never left Will’s face. Will had the very distinct feeling of falling.

 

“I- no, no, none of that,” Will said, startled for reasons he couldn’t quite place. “Look, I just want a game, like… a board game, something a bunch of people can play together.”

 

The other boy’s smile deepened, and he took a step towards Will. “Are you sure? What about the ancient Tibetan game of goats and tigers.” He gestured at a carved bronze board with tiny figurines on it. “The fierce tigers stalk the innocent little goats, and the goats try to run from the tigers.” The smile turned into a smirk. “But it’s only for two players.”

 

Will narrowed his eyes at the clerk as he stiffened. This kid was _toying_ with him. “I can see I’m wasting my time here.”

 

Will tore his eyes away from the boy, and headed to the door again, sensing somehow that he shouldn’t stay in the presence of this handsome, otherworldly boy any longer than necessary, when-

 

"Something fun,” the boy said in his strange accent. “Surprising. Sexy.” His voice dropped. “Scary.”

 

“Dangerous.”

 

Will turned back to look at him, he tilted, surprised to hear his own thoughts from earlier said back to him. “... yes.” He answered hesitantly.

 

“Something special,” the boy continued, smiled widely, then whirled around. “Wait here.”

 

‘Get out of here, Graham,’ he said to himself as the boy headed into a back room. But he found his feet curiously fixed, his gaze unable to move from the door where the clerk had just disappeared into. Before Will could try to force himself into action, he was back, a simple white box in his hands.

 

Will almost scoffed- it was literally just a white box. No picture, no description, not even a name. Just a plain old white box.

 

And yet…

 

Something about it gave Will that same feeling that the website did, the same feeling he had when he first saw the room. He very, very badly wanted to touch the box.

 

The boy smiled still, but now there was something softer to it. “You may hold it, if you wish.” He held the box out to Will.

 

Will moved forward with a start to retrieve the box, his hand brushing the boy’s as he did so. He sucked in a breath at the jolt that went through him. He noticed the boy flinch lightly.

 

But it didn’t matter. Once he had the box in his hands, it was like nothing else mattered. “I’ll take it,” Will said, hands moving reverently over the lid.

 

“On second thought, I don’t know if I should let you have it.” The beautiful voice, like rocks over water, broke through the haze Will was in, and he clutched the box to his chest as he looked back at the boy.

 

“What are you about?” Will hissed.

 

“Just that it’s a very special game. I don’t know if I should give it to just anyone. Perhaps if you could tell me a little about what you would use it for.” Will would have thought he was joking, but his face was so serious.

Will didn’t feel like he should have to answer, but he began to anyway. “Well, it’s for my girlfriend-”

 

“Yes, you said,” the boy interrupted, looking bored.

 

Annoyed, Will continued, “And it’s her birthday today, and I was supposed to plan something, but I screwed up and it’s the day of- and, look, she’s great- she’s beautiful, she’s fun- everyone who knows her loves her-”

 

“I see,” the boy said, the same bored tone.

 

“No you don’t see,” Will bit out. “She’s- look, she’s amazing, okay? She’s kind. She’s _good_.”

 

“She’s very lucky to have you,” the boy replied, looking down now, his tone- almost sad? Will took a step toward him, confused, when the boy looked up with an impish grin.

 

“Why- you’re teasing me.” Will said, and laughed despite himself. The other boy huffed out a laugh, and nodded.

 

“I am.” He looked enormously pleased with himself, his smile genuine, and Will got the strangest sense that he was restraining himself from touching Will. “If you want it, it’s yours.”

 

Will knew he should be irritated at the boy, but couldn’t bring himself to be. Hell, Will might be a tease himself, if he looked like _that_. And he knew he shouldn’t buy the game. Knew it was crazy to buy a plain white box from a boy who looked like he stepped out of heaven, or maybe hell.

 

“I want it,” Will whispered.

 

The boy’s smile was positively wolfish. “Then you shall have it.”

 

“How much?” Will asked, holding the box with one arm and trying to get his wallet out of his back pocket at the same time.

 

“Call it a gift,” the boy said, head tilted, eyes remaining fixed on Will. Will smiled in return, politely, then stumbled over his words. “Thank you- that’s- I mean, thanks. I hope I… see you later. I mean, have a nice day!”

 

Will turned towards the door, mortified, when he heard the boy say something behind him that sounded like, “At nine.”

 

But it was probably, “That’s fine.” Polite.

 

So Will turned back again and offered one more smile- only to see the boy gazing at him with a look that could only be called _hungry_. Will blinked, and the look was gone. Startled, he grasped for the handle, and fell back into the street.

 

Will looked around, only just then remember the boy from before. He spotted him across the street, opening staring at Will. They froze when they saw each other. Will straightened up, preparing himself for a confrontation- when the boy looked at him with a strange, unexpected fear in his eyes. Like he was seeing something unreal, something monstrous. Will took a step forward, adrenaline coursing through him, when the tough looking boy turned tail and _ran_.

 

Will looked around the boy, bewildered, then wrapped his fingers more tightly around the box and turned towards home. He had to get going if he was going to have things ready for everyone. He’d meant to look back at the door, and see how he’d mistaken it at first, see if he could figure out the illusion, but he was in such a hurry.

 

He simply forgot.


End file.
